Search results matching tag 'App'http://sqlblog.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=App&orTags=0Search results matching tag 'App'en-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)Review of the book Learning Windows Azure Mobile Services for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8http://sqlblog.com/blogs/sergio_govoni/archive/2014/04/26/learning-windows-azure-mobile-services-for-windows-8-and-windows-phone-8.aspxSat, 26 Apr 2014 19:05:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:53753Sergio Govoni<p>Recently I had the opportunity to read the book <a href="http://bit.ly/1c3YUfX" target="_blank" mce_href="http://bit.ly/1c3YUfX">Learning Windows Azure Mobile Services for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8</a> written by Geoff Webber-Cross (<a href="https://twitter.com/webbercross" target="_blank" mce_href="https://twitter.com/webbercross">@webbercross</a>) and published by <a href="http://www.packtpub.com/" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.packtpub.com/">Packt Publishing</a>.</p><p><a href="http://bit.ly/1c3YUfX" target="_blank" mce_href="http://bit.ly/1c3YUfX"><img width="175" height="213" style="width:175px;height:213px;" src="http://sqlblog.com/files/folders/53752/download.aspx" border="0"></a></p><p>In the last year, Windows Azure has increased the offer of cloud-based services which are hosted on Windows Azure platform. One of those new services is Windows Azure Mobile Services that allows developers to build web-connected application easily.</p><p>Before reading this book my knowledge on Windows Azure was on other topics such as SQL Azure Database, Storage and Windows Azure Virtual Machine. When I have heard about the opportunity to read and review this book I have thought it was a great opportunity to learn something new about the services offered by Windows Azure for mobile application.</p><p>The book covers all features of Windows Azure Mobile Services starting from the activity to prepare the Windows Azure Mobile Services Portal up to the Best Practices for Web-Connected Applications development. When you start to develop an Apps for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 with Windows Azure Mobile Services you may want to know what software and hardware are needed, this topic is covered in the second chapter. Security, Customization, Notification and Scalability are topics covered in the chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6.</p><p>Another thing I have appreciated in this book is the attention to the cost of services; many times in the book I read sentences like this "At this point, if we choose the … we will start incurring costs". As confirm, the concept "Choosing a pricing plan for services you wish to implement" is covered at the beginning of the first chapter.</p><p>There are lot of pictures in the book, which make it practical and easy to read. If you want to look inside the book you can download a sample chapter <a href="http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/9781782171928_Chapter-01.pdf?utm_source=packtpub&amp;utm_medium=free&amp;utm_campaign=pdf" target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/9781782171928_Chapter-01.pdf?utm_source=packtpub&amp;utm_medium=free&amp;utm_campaign=pdf">here</a>&nbsp;and this is the table of contents:</p><ul><li>Chapter 1: Preparing the Windows Azure Mobile Services Portal</li><li>Chapter 2: Start Developing with Windows Azure Mobile Services 19</li><li>Chapter 3: Securing Data and Protecting the User</li><li>Chapter 4: Service Customization with Scripts</li><li>Chapter 5: Implementing Push Notifications</li><li>Chapter 6: Scaling Up with the Notifications Hub</li><li>Best Practices for Chapter 7: Web-connected Apps&nbsp;</li></ul><p>This book cannot missing in your digital or physical library, enjoy!</p>